BABA, NVDA, MRVL, WMT, SPCX: Why Retail Traders Couldn’t Take Their Eyes Off These Stocks Last Week

• Alibaba raised $10.2 billion through a Hong Kong share sale to fund its AI expansion. Michael Burry criticized the move over concerns about shareholder dilution. 
• Nvidia is reportedly raising AI server prices by more than 15% while investing $6 billion in Poolside to expand its open-weight AI models. 
• Walmart fell 10% last week despite beating Q2 earnings estimates as investors remained concerned about slower store traffic. 

U.S. markets saw another busy stretch of corporate developments last week, with artificial intelligence, retail earnings, semiconductors, and space technology dominating investor attention.

Alibaba’s Record AI-Focused Share Sale 

Alibaba Group (BABA) raised HK$80 billion ($10.2 billion) by selling new shares in Hong Kong, marking the city’s largest primary follow-on share sale. The money will fund its AI expansion, including chips, data centers and large language models.

Famed investor Michael Burry criticized the strategy, arguing that issuing new shares will dilute existing shareholders. He said he moved his Alibaba investment into JD.com in June and would only consider buying Alibaba again if the stock falls 50%.

The capital raise comes as Alibaba’s fiscal second-quarter (Q2) revenue increased 9% to $39.64 billion, helped by stronger AI and cloud demand, but fell short of the $39.89 billion analyst estimate, per Fiscal AI data. Earnings dropped 42% to $1.26 per ADR, missing the $1.60 expected by analysts. Alibaba’s capital spending jumped 75% to about $10.07 billion during the quarter as the company continued investing heavily in AI.

Alibaba stock dropped over 3% last week. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the stock remained in ‘extremely bullish’ territory. 

Nvidia’s AI Pricing Power Faces Its Biggest Test Yet Before Earnings 

Nvidia Corp.  (NVDA) is heading into its Q2 results with fresh signs of pricing power and an expanding push into AI software. The chipmaker is reportedly raising prices on upcoming AI server systems while making a multibillion-dollar commitment to strengthen its open-weight model strategy.

According to a Bloomberg report, cloud providers are preparing for price increases of more than 15% on systems built around Nvidia’s Grace Blackwell and Vera Rubin platforms. Nvidia is also committing $6 billion toward Poolside, an AI startup, as part of an effort to expand its Nemotron family of open-weight models. The strategy seeks to strengthen U.S. AI capabilities while competing with Chinese model developers such as DeepSeek and Kimi.

On Friday, BMO Capital initiated coverage of Nvidia with an Outperform rating and a $340 price target, making it the firm's top semiconductor pick. Nvidia stock clocked over a 4% weekly drop with a ‘bearish’ retail sentiment. 

$12.2B Warrant Deepens Marvell-Google Partnership 

Marvell Technology (MRVL) stock jumped nearly 7% during the week as the company expanded its custom AI-chip partnership with Google ahead of its August 27 earnings report.

Marvell gave Google parent Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL)a $12.2 billion stock warrant tied to revenue targets. The deal could generate about $120 billion in cumulative revenue through 2033 if performance targets are met.

The partnership covers AI inference chips, storage controllers and networking technology that support Google’s TPU ecosystem. Oppenheimer raised its MRVL price target to $300 from $250, while Citi lifted its target to $275 from $225, citing stronger expectations for Marvell’s AI and data center business. Retail sentiment around the stock remained in ‘extremely bullish’ territory. 

Walmart Earnings And SpaceX’s Mega Ambitions 

Walmart Inc. (WMT) stock plunged 10% during the week, triggered by its Q2 earnings. The company surpassed quarterly earnings expectations and raised its full-year outlook, yet shares fell afterward as investors worried about slower store traffic and the temporary effects of tariff-related refunds.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stated on X that the company is targeting more than 30 Starship launches per day by 2030, translating to roughly 10,000 launches per year. Musk's goal far outpaces the Trump administration's recently announced space transportation target of 1,000 launches annually by 2030. SpaceX stock declined 2% over the week. 

Also See: WMT Vs TGT: Walmart Has The Scale, Target Has Turnaround Momentum — Which Retail Stock Looks Better Now?

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